The Handmaid’s Tale’s Serena Joy Actress Breaks Down Season 6, Episode 8’s Wedding Twist & What’s Next

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 8!The Handmaid’s Tale star Yvonne Strahovski breaks down season 6, episode 8’s wedding twist and what’s next for Serena Joy after the shocking event. During The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 8, Serena (Yvonne) marries Commander Wharton (Josh Charles) in a happy ceremony. However, events quickly take a turn when it’s revealed Wharton expects to take a Handmaid into the pair’s home. This clearly causes Serena to become disillusioned once more by Gilead, emphasizing how she can never escape its systems while living within its borders.

Speaking with Variety, Strahovski explained how Serena felt betrayed in The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 8 because of Wharton’s decision to take in a Handmaid. It reminded her of her life with Fred (Joseph Fiennes), while also realizing June (Elisabeth Moss) had been right about Gilead the whole time. The actor also acknowledged her relationship to New Bethlehem and how it could impact the story going forward. Check out what Strahovski had to say below:

Yeah — the rage. Starting with this emotional betrayal from her [first] husband — here we are again with someone she is genuinely having a love connection with, but he’s bringing in a Handmaid. She’s just floored. It’s an immediate rage and betrayal, and she realizes in an instant that June was right.

Yes, I do. I think she really consciously leaned into it — she knew it was a delusion, but the reason she did it was that she had to. It was a survival thing. No one is going to give her a passport. She’s got nowhere to go. The way for her to have the most power possible is to take the position that she is being offered in New Bethlehem, and really lean into that, dig her heels in, and become, in her mind, the queen of New Bethlehem.

What The Handmaid’s Tale Wedding Means For Serena’s Future

The Hulu Series Has Only 2 Episodes Left

Other characters in The Handmaid’s Tale, such as June, have continually warned Serena of how Gilead will always betray her optimistic expectations. It’s something that began as early as season 2, when Fred allowed the Council to cut off her finger for reading aloud to them. Her recent expectations of raising Noah alongside Wharton seemed too perfect for the life she wanted, proven true now that a Handmaid will be living in her home. This shattered illusion comes with just two episodes left in the series.

While it’s unclear where Serena will go from here, but it seems like her story is beginning to lay some groundwork for the upcoming The Testaments adaptation. This is apparent because, with just two episodes left in the show, there are still plenty of stories yet to be fulfilled that will likely carry over into the sequel series. But, with Serena no longer trusting Wharton now that he’s expecting to follow tradition with a Handmaid, she could make a drastic decision in the series’ final hours that changes the course of her and Gilead’s history.

Our Take On What’s Next For Serena In The Handmaid’s Tale

Will She Really Accept Her New Role?

Serena is clearly very upset with Wharton over his decision to include a Handmaid in their home, leaving her new husband at the end of the episode. Given everything she’s been through since season 1, it wouldn’t make sense for her to simply accept her fate. Instead, The Handmaid’s Tale‘s final two hours have a chance to focus on her response to what Wharton had done, possibly leading to one last twist in her fate before the series comes to a close.

New episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 air Tuesdays on Hulu.

Source: Variety

The Handmaid’s Tale

7/10

Release Date

2017 – 2025-00-00

Network

Hulu

Showrunner

Bruce Miller

Directors

Mike Barker, Kari Skogland, Daina Reid, Reed Morano, Floria Sigismondi, Jeremy Podeswa, Kate Dennis, Richard Shepard, Amma Asante, Christina Choe, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Bradley Whitford, Dearbhla Walsh, Liz Garbus

Writers

Kira Snyder, Eric Tuchman, Yahlin Chang, John Herrera, Jacey Heldrich, Dorothy Fortenberry, Marissa Jo Cerar, Lynn Renee Maxcy

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  Elisabeth Moss

  June Osborne / Offred / Ofjoseph

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